Joseph Ayodele Babalola was born on 25 April 1904 in Odo-Owa, in present-day Kwara State, Nigeria. Working as a steamroller driver for the Public Works Department near Akure in 1928, he reported that his engine stalled three days running while an audible voice called him to leave the work and preach.
After months of prayer and fasting in the bush, he aligned with the Faith Tabernacle congregation at Ilesa. On 10 July 1930, during an open-air meeting at Oke-Ooye, the healing of a boy believed dead drew enormous crowds; within weeks tens of thousands of Yorubas across western Nigeria left traditional shrines and the mission churches to follow the new movement. The revival reshaped the religious map of Yorubaland and gave birth, by 1941, to the Christ Apostolic Church.
Babalola continued itinerant preaching for nearly thirty years, founding prayer mountains at Erio, Efon-Alaaye and Ikeji-Arakeji, and was made the first General Evangelist of the CAC. He died on 26 July 1959. Joseph Ayo Babalola University at Ikeji-Arakeji was founded in his memory in 2006.